Academician Igor Spassky said in Brussels that the Kursk project was ready. The operation will begin in April 2001. The Central Design Bureau Rubin (designer of the submarine) will work with the international consortium comprising the Norwegian subdivision of the American company Halliburton and two Dutch companies Heerema Marine Contractors and Smit Tak without whose technologies Russia cannot hope to handle the task successfully. The operation will cost $70-100 million. The Kursk International Foundation expects to get 50% of the sum from the European Union.

The Dutch newspaper Telegraaf reports that the Kursk will be cut into two pieces. The aft destroyed by explosions will be left on the seabed to be handled by Russians alone at a later date. The stern will be fixed to surface ships, lifted (carefully so as not break it), and towed to Murmansk for investigation and dismantlement.

The project is fairly standard and officials cannot explain the reason for all this secrecy that veiled the work on the project until now.

Gennadi Sorokin of the Rubin says that the aft may be left in the Barents Sea for good if examination of the salvaged part of the hull reveals the cause of the catastrophe.